LAFAYETTE, Colo. — First responders and ranchers helped save a cow that fell through the ice on Prince Reservoir #2 in Erie on Tuesday.
Engineer Lee Brown with Mountain View Fire Rescue said the cow was about 20 yards from the shore when she broke through the ice, which was about 7 to 8 inches thick. A neighbor had called authorities when they saw the cow in the water.
"We made quick plans to make a trench cut back to the shore line," he said. "While doing that, we had the ranchers show up. They aided us and helped us coach the cow back to shore. And then we were able to get the cow to walk out on its own."
Authorities used chain saws to cut through the ice. The cow was out of the water about 30 to 45 minutes after Mountain View Fire Rescue arrived on scene.
Brown said the ranches will monitor the cow to ensure she is OK since conditions were so cold.
He estimated that the water was an extremely low temperature and humans would likely become hypothermic within a couple minutes. The rescuers that went out on the ice wore suits that are made for those bitter cold temperatures. They are thermal and buoyant, which pushes back the time it would take for a person to get hypothermia.
"It's an abnormal call," Brown said, adding. "First time rescuing a cow out of an ice hole."
